After making some jokes that many viewed as homophobic, Jimmy Kimmel has apologized to the LGBT+ community.
And it appears that he"s trying to quash his long-running beef with Sean Hannity at the same time. And, as the video below shows, it may have worked.
Hannity appears to have accepted Kimmel"s apology — even though he calls it "forced" — and he"s even inviting Kimmel to his show.
After rehashing the back-and-forth that"s been going on between himself and Kimmel, Hannity says this of Kimmel"s apology:
"On the surface, to be honest, it feels more like a forced Disney corporate apology directed more towards the LBGTQ community rather than about Kimmel’s comments about the first lady."
He seems to be pretending to say "LGBTQ" awkwardly, as if he doesn"t read that acronym all of the time as part of his job, but whatever. His viewers will eat that up.
Hannity continues, saying:
"I believe everyone should accept apologies, that’s how I was raised, that’s what my religion teaches me, and I’m going to assume he’s sincere."
"But, from my perspective, I do really kind of enjoy a good fight, and I do agree with Jimmy in the sense that it’s time to move on."
Of course, Hannity knows where his bread is buttered, so he naturally pivots to a familiar topic for Trump fans.
"For me, it was never about Hannity vs. Jimmy Kimmel. It’s a lot bigger than that for me."
The man who once blasted Obama for ordering "fancy" mustard thinks that the media is being unfair to Trump. Honestly, that"s wild.
"Just the level of hatred, vitriol against this president and his family is frankly unprecedented, as we"ve been talking about all night tonight."
He also refers to "the media" as "wholly an extension of the Democratic Party," which is almost funny for a few reasons, saying:
"What"s even worse, we have this corrupt media industrial complex. We see it all working tonight."
Uh-huh.
Hannity then decides to extend and invitation.
"You seem sincere when you talk about healthcare. You seem sincere when you talk about the country."
Kimmel certainly is. The healthcare issue really touches him, as he"d never be able to afford care for his son if he weren"t rich.
"I want to extend an invitation. You wanna come on the show, I"ll promise: no name-calling, no anger."
That will be incredibly off-brand for Hannity. Also, it implies that he can reign in his anger.
"No rehashing of the Twitter fight. You want to have a serious discussion. We can talk about the President, his policies, healthcare, comedy, political correctness. …"
That would be … interesting.
As you may recall, Jimmy Kimmel and Sean Hannity have had some back-and-forth banter.
Hannity is sometimes regarded as the "last man standing" among long-running, big-name conservative mouthpieces at Fox News.
Kimmel has his late-night talk show on NBC and, like many Americans, blows off steam by poking fun at the endless three-ring circus known as the Trump Administration.
However, Kimmel sometimes would poke fun at Melania"s accent, something that many feel should be off-limits. She never asked to be First Lady, after all.
This sparked a crude back-and-forth between Hannity and Kimmel.
The very back-and-forth that escalated, with Kimmel"s jokes becoming homophobic and Hannity comparing Kimmel to an alleged rapist. Yikes.
When Kimmel suggested that Hannity and Trump were in a sexual relationship, he certainly intended for it to inflame and embarrass Hannity, who is not exactly known as a friend of the LGBT+ community.
But the results are homophobic. Calling someone gay to upset them is pretty blatantly homophobic, regardless of your intentions.
So it"s good that Jimmy apologized.
For the record, though, Sean Hannity used Jimmy Kimmel"s appearance on that gross and sexist The Man Show (and yes, it was, even at the time) to compare him to Harvey Weinstein.
Those women on that show signed up to be there. That"s a far cry from, you know, the women who accuse Harvey Weinstein of harassing, threatening, and raping them.
One worries that Hannity doesn"t understand the distinction between gross behavior (for a television role) that has been unlearned and unforgivable acts of predation.
Will he accept Hannity"s invitation? Some would wonder what the point could be. Hannity"s politics speak for themselves. Anyone still watching his show isn"t likely to be swayed.
The only likely result is the normalization of Hannity"s radically pro-Trump views and an undeserved ratings boost for Hannity.
Kind of hard to see what Kimmel has to gain from that. But he might go for it.
It"s worth noting that Hannity also threatens to further embarrass Kimmel if the latter decides to reignite their feud.
He apparently tasked producers to come up with, we"re guessing, a lot of dumb statements and awkward moments of him goggling at women on The Man Show.
Like Hannity, I agree that it would be nice to see fewer people take shots at Barron Trump, Melania Trump, and things like Trump"s typically American diet.
(I"m a guy who eats kale-and-chicken burgers when I "get a burger," but if someone wants to eat a bucket of KFC or whatever, more power to them)
There are so many totally fair targets for ridicule. For example, almost everything else about Donald Trump.
